1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a voice service using a digital network, and, more particularly, to a composite voice service terminal apparatus allowing a user to use a voice call with various service functions all on one terminal, and a method for using the same, with the service functions including general phone, voice over Internet protocol, voice over digital subscriber line, and voice over multi-service broadband networks.
2. Related Art
As a number of users using Internet phones increases, a variety of Internet phones have been developed. One Internet phone performs a voice call through a leased line. The voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) could be developed to attempt to provide the Internet phone at a low price. Unfortunately, the VoIP requires a terminal solely dedicated to VoIP.
The voice over digital subscriber line (VoDSL) could be developed to attempt to improve call quality and reduce call charges. Unfortunately, the VoDSL requires a terminal solely dedicated to VoDSL.
The voice over multi-service broadband networks (VoMBN) could be developed to attempt to provide a voice call service by accessing a general phone and an Internet protocol (IP)/asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)/exchange, in order to attempt to improve call quality and reduce call charges. Unfortunately, the VoMBN requires a terminal solely dedicated to VoMBN.
Exemplars of recent efforts in digital communications are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,999 to Liu et al. entitled CONFERENCING AND ANNOUNCEMENT GENERATIONFOR WIRELESS VOIP AND VOATM CALLS, issued on May 21, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,507 to Li et al., entitled METHOD OF ADDRESS RESOLUTION FOR THE TRANSFER OF SYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE CALLS THROUGH MULTIPLE DOMAINS IN A BROADBAND DATA NETWORK, issued on Mar. 18, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,522,647 to Czajkowski et al., entitled ENHANCED VODSL SERVICE PROVISION, issued on Feb. 18, 2003; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,223 to Egan et al., entitled WIRELESS MULTI-SITE NETWORKING USING SIGNALING AND VOICE-OVER-IP, issued on May 6, 2003, an article entitled VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VoIP) by Bur Goode, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 90, No. 9, September 2000, pp. 1495-1517.
While these contemporary efforts contain merit, it is my observation that further improvements can also be contemplated. In particular, it would be advantageous if a method and a single terminal were developed that could handle general telephone communications as well as VoIP, VoDSL, and VoMBN.